Weekend Box-Office: August 31-September 2, 2012

Another summer movie season has come to an end, and people who aren't otherwise occupied with outdoor warm-weather gatherings (or mentally preparing for the horrors of school) were obviously looking for some indoor chills this weekend.

The Sam Raimi-produced THE POSSESSION took the top spot with $17.7 million. The "true story" PG-13 spooker (formerly known as THE DIBBUK BOX) effectively made back its modest production budget already and, like the rest of the movies in release, will also have the extra Labor Day holiday tomorrow to scare up a few more bucks.

In second place for the weekend was the crime drama LAWLESS with $9.6 million. The Shia LaBeouf/Tom Hardy bootlegger tale (formerly THE WETTEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD) from director John Hillcoat (THE PROPOSITION, THE ROAD) had a Wednesday head start and currently has an $11.8M domestic total.

After shooting their way to the top for the past two weeks, THE EXPENDABLES 2 landed in third this week with $8.8 million. And while Sly and the action veterans don't seem likely to get past the $100 million mark, THE BOURNE LEGACY is nearly there as it settled for fourth place and another $7.2 million. After that is PARANORMAN, Disney's THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN, and then THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, which is now #9 on the all-time domestic chart (supplanting PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST and THE LION KING) as it also closes on a $1 billion worldwide total.

Speaking of records and loads of cash, Marvel's THE AVENGERS got pushed back out onto 1700 screens over the weekend, but its $1.6 million take wasn't enough to put it into the top 10 (anyone check it out? Was there any bonus material this time?). While it won't be knocking TITANIC from the #2 spot on the all-time domestic and worldwide charts, the superhero extravaganza has now collected over $1.5 billion in global currency.

Will Ferrell and Zack Galifianakis' fake politics are in #8 as THE CAMPAIGN brought in $5.4M, just ahead of the anti-Obama documentary 2016: OBAMA'S AMERICA, which is still doing strong business (likely boosted by last week's Republican convention).

But there was absolutely no love for OOGIELOVES IN THE BIG BALLOON ADVENTURE. In its first week, the new children's movie opened on over 2000 screens but made a mere $675k. To put that in more perspective, its per-screen average was even lower than THE HUNGER GAMES, which has been in theaters since March and is already available on video. Last week's new releases PREMIUM RUSH and HIT & RUN are also already gone from sight.

Next weekend brings Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana in the drama THE WORDS, and Bruce Willis deals with future-Superman Henry Cavill in the action-thriller THE COLD LIGHT OF DAY (released overseas earlier this year). Limited releases include the Spanish horror sequel [REC] 3, the comedy BACHELORETTE and the sci-fi indie BRANDED.

What September release are you most looking forward to seeing?VOTE HERE!